Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade. He was defeated in
every public office role he ran for.Then he became the British prime minister
at the age of 62.

Thomas Edison's teachers told him he was "too stupid to
learn anything". Edison also famously invented 1,000 light bulbs before
creating one that worked.

Harland David Sanders, the famous KFC
"Colonel," couldn't sell his chicken. More than 1,000 restaurants
rejected him. But then one did, and today there are KFC restaurants bearing his
image all over the world.

R.H. Macy had a history failing businesses, including a
dud Macy's in NYC. But Macy kept up the hard work and ended up with the biggest
department store in the world.

Steven Spielberg was rejected from his dream school, the
University of Southern California, three times. He sought out an education
somewhere else and dropped out to be a director.

Charlie Chaplin's act was rejected by executives because they
thought it was too obscure for people to understand. But then they took a
chance on Chaplin, who went on to become America's first bona fide movie star.

Marilyn Monroe's first contract with Columbia Pictures expired
because they told her she wasn't pretty or talented enough to be an actress. Monroe
kept plugging away and is one of the most iconic actresses and sex symbols of
all time.

Soichiro Honda was passed over for an engineering job at
Toyota and left unemployed. But then he began making motorcycles, started a
business and became a billionaire.

Vera Wang failed to make the U.S. Olympic figure-skating
team. Then she became an editor at Vogue and was passed over for the
editor-in-chief position. She began designing wedding gowns at 40 and today is
the premier designer in the business, with a multi-billion dollar industry.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he
"lacked imagination and had no good ideas". Several more of his
businesses failed before the premiere of his movie Snow White. Today, most
childhoods wouldn't be the same without his ideas.

Albert Einstein didn't speak until age four and didn't read
until age seven. His teachers labeled him "slow" and "mentally
handicapped". But Einstein just had a different way of thinking. He later
won the Nobel prize in physics.

Charles Darwin was considered an average student. He gave up
on a career in medicine and was going to school to become a parson. But as
Darwin studied nature, he found his calling.

Sir Isaac Newton was tasked with running the family farm but
was a miserable failure. Newton was sent off to Cambridge University and became
a physics scholar.

In Fred Astaire's first screen test, the
judges wrote: "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little".
Astaire went on to be the most famous dancer of all time and won the hearts of
American women forever.

After Sidney Poitier's first audition, the
casting director instructed him to just stop wasting everyone's time and
"go be a dishwasher or something". He went on to win an Academy Award
and is admired by actors everywhere.

Oprah Winfrey was fired from her television reporting job
because they told her she wasn't fit to be on screen. But Winfrey rebounded and became the
undisputed queen of television talk shows. She's also a billionaire.

Lucille Ball spent many years on the B-list and her agent told
her to pursue a new career. Then she got her big break on I Love Lucy.

After his
first film, Harrison Ford
underwhelmed the producer and was told he would probably never succeed. But
today Ford is the third highest-grossing actor of all time.

Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting in his entire life, to
a friend. He sometimes starved in order to create the 800 paintings he'd
eventually do. Today, his works are priceless.

Henry Ford's first auto company went out of business. He
abandoned a second because of a fight and a third went downhill because of
declining sales. He went on to become one of the greatest American
entrepreneurs ever.

J.K. Rowling was unemployed, divorced and raising a
daughter on social security while writing the first Harry Potter novel. J.K.
Rowling is now internationally renowned for her 7 book Harry Potter series and
is the first person to become a billionaire from writing.

Stephen King was initially so frustrated with his first
novel, Carrie that he threw it in the trash. King's wife found the manuscript
in the trash and took it out. To date his 49 novels have sold 350 million
copies.